It’s fairly safe to say that Sylvester Stallone has built a very rewarding, lucrative and long career on two iconic characters – Rocky Balboa and John Rambo. The star wrote, directed and performed in the sixth Rocky film in 2006, effectively drawing that franchise to a close. He then did the same with Rambo in 2008 – delivering a fourth franchise entry that brought the character full circle, with an ending intended to satisfy fans and bring them a sense of closure. But now, Rambo 5 is on the horizon.
The character has been loved by fans since the first film exploded onto the big screen in 1982. First Blood saw Vietnam veteran and former Green Beret John Rambo arrive in the small American town of Hope, in Washington State. Searching for his friend from Special Forces, he discovers that he died of a cancer caused by exposure to Agent Orange. Rambo then clashes violently with local authorities. In Rambo: First Blood Part II, he must search for American POWs left behind in Vietnam. In Rambo III, he is asked to help supply weapons to Afghan freedom fighters and, when he refuses, finds himself having to rescue his colleague, who went ahead without him. Then, in the fourth film (Rambo), he becomes embroiled in the Burma crisis – or Saffron Revolution – when he connects with a group of missionaries who are later in need of rescue.
Since, at the end of 2008’s Rambo, the hero finally returns home, we would all have been forgiven for assuming that was the end of the character’s cinematic journey. In fact, Stallone himself agreed wholeheartedly with that assessment – according to his statement to Empire Online while promoting The Expendables in 2010:
“…for Rambo to go on another adventure might be, I think, misinterpreted as a mercenary gesture and not necessary. I don’t want that to happen.”
Fast forward to the promotion of The Expendables 3, and Stallone is singing a very different tune:
“I’m getting ready for it [Rambo 5]. I’m starting to work out. I’m going to be appropriately vicious and all that stuff, but intellectual. A killer with heart. Smart, yet stupid. Tall, yet short. Broad, but thin. You know what I mean. We’re going to try to cover all the boundaries.”
Do we know what he means? It’s doubtful. What we do know is that Sylvester Stallone is gearing up to shoot Rambo 5 – which will apparently feature him battling a Mexican drug cartel threat – and that can only mean one thing. Given that Rambo is a character he has adapted (from the novel ‘First Blood’ by David Morrell), written, nurtured and performed for over 32 years, and given that only four years ago he had seemed resigned to the fact that the franchise was over – the script for Rambo 5 must be something special and worthwhile, at least in the eyes of the man himself.